Jacare Souza To Become Free Agent After UFC on FOX 24

Ronald ‘Jacare’ Souza has only one fight left on his current UFC contract.

With a bout scheduled against Robert Whitaker at UFC on FOX 24 on Saturday, Souza is channelling his focus on his upcoming fight, not on his soon to expire contract, according to a report on MMAFighting.com

“We’ve been going back and forth (with UFC officials) for a while,” Souza’s manager Gilberto Faria told MMA Fighting. “We still have not reached an agreement on his value, but we will continue to talk after the fight. Our goal is to reach a new agreement shortly. The UFC middleweight belt is Jacare’s goal. With a good contract in place, we will keep fighting the best middleweight talents out there and earn the title shot.”

Souza is among the best middleweights in the UFC right now. Having one 7-1 in the Octagon, he has been vocal about wanting to get a shot at the middleweight belt. His lone loss came in a hotly contested split decision in his fight against Yoel Romero.

While waiting in the wings for his chance at the title, Souza has been vocal and critical about the UFC’s handling of the 185-pound division.

Speaking about the upcoming Michael Bisping vs. Georges St. Pierre fight, he said:

“I want them to suffer a double knockout,” Souza said last month. “I want them to fuck themselves, man. That’s the reality. I don’t care about this fight. That’s the same thing I said when Bisping fought Dan Henderson. I didn’t care, too. I won’t even watch this crap.”

With Souza’s free agency looming, and his increasing presence in the UFC, there are several decisions to be made on both sides. He might find himself in the same position as fifth ranked Gegard Mouassi, who completed the terms of his UFC contract this past weekend with a second-round TKO against Chris Weidman at UFC 210.